Many home craftsmen have already thoroughly studied how to make a soldering iron with their own hands and how to use it correctly. There are many options for making tools; even improvised tools can be used to assemble them. The main thing is to know how the device works and understand why it is needed.

The most difficult to manufacture at home is a miniature and low-power 12 volt soldering iron. However, it is possible to make it with your own hands, but you need to have the appropriate skills and abilities.

Areas of use

Before you learn how to make a mini soldering iron, you need to understand, what is it for. Such a device for home needs will never be superfluous. Using a homemade 12 volt soldering iron, you can do the following:

• Solder microcircuits of various household appliances.
• Repair parts of micro-headphones.
• Perform electronic watch repairs.
• Repair phone chargers and more.

Such a device is made with the expectation that it will not be powered directly from the network, but through a 220/12 volt transformer.

What do you need to work

Most materials and tools will not need to be purchased additionally, since home craftsmen will most likely find them at home. Working materials include:

If copper foil is not at hand, it can be replaced with foil fiberglass, which is often used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards or circuits. But if they are not available, then you can buy everything in a specialized store for an average of 200 rubles. And to get another sheet of foil, then heat the fiberglass with a simple iron and pull the corner, dividing it into thin plates first, and wind it on a round stick.

The key element of the design is a 220 to 12 volt transformer, through which the device will receive the necessary energy from the mains. Sometimes a TVK-11OL brand device is used, which can be pulled out of an old tube TV.

Required tools include:

• pliers;
• wire cutters;
• tweezers;
• rags;
• stove (gas or electric);
• plates or boards for washing with glue.

The process of assembling a mini soldering iron

The copper wire will act as a tip for the mini soldering iron. You only need 50 mm. Sharpen it in the form of a dihedral angle on one side and tin the edges. This tip will be located inside the heating element.

Then make a special electrical insulating mass:

• Talc and liquid glass (or silicate glue) mix with each other.
• To prevent the mass from sticking to your hands, apply insulation to the cylindrical surface with tweezers and sprinkle it with talc.

Roll the foil into a tube about 35 mm long, which will serve as the basis for the heating element. On the one hand, a soldering iron tip will be visible from under it. Cover the tube with insulating mass. Dry the applied mass over the stove until completely solidified. Then, wind a spiral nichrome wire no more than 350 mm long on the finished base. The turns should be laid carefully as close as possible to each other, and the upper and lower turns from 30 to 60 mm should be left as leads. Then cover the structure again with an electrical insulating mixture and dry it over the stove.

Bend the bar end of the wire back and press it firmly against the surface of the tube, then apply the mass again. And only after that you can use the heating element of the structure.

Wire protruding from under the heating element must be covered with electrical insulation. Do not forget to check the quality of your work every time you use it.

When the base is completely covered with insulation, you can assemble the mini-soldering iron itself. The ends of the nichrome heater are connected to the handle, for this purpose an electric cord is pulled in heat-resistant insulation through the internal plastic cavity. Be sure to isolate and dry the exposed areas and put a tin protective cover on the heater, connect it to the handle. After that, the device is ready for use.

Homemade resistor soldering iron

For the production of various tools at home, amateurs often use all kinds of improvised means. The resistor-based soldering iron is easy to use, reliable and simple.

As in the previous case, you will need copper and steel wire, as well as double-sided textolite. In addition to the elements listed earlier, you will need a ballpoint pen for the case and a special resistor with a resistance of 5 to 10 ohms.

The algorithm of actions is as follows:

Then proceed to the assembly of the structure. Put the current lead from the spring on the front cup and solder the current leads to the textolite board. Install the sting, dressing it first in ceramics or mica so that there is no current access. Then solder the wires to the board. It is recommended to use an adjustable device for the battery.

As for the features of using home-made mini-soldering irons, in application they do not differ in any way from factory models. The only thing is you can save your money. Thanks to such devices, you can independently do even miniature household soldering work.

At 12 volts - a necessary tool for modern radio electronics in the home. With it, you can quickly solder microcircuits, parts of an earpiece, electronic wristwatches, and repair your phone charger. Many radio amateurs prefer to make an electric soldering iron with their own hands. This work saves money and does not let you forget the school physics course.

Necessary materials and tools

You don’t need much material to make a soldering iron, and you can easily find it at home. These are copper wire for the manufacture of a directly soldering base, copper foil, a tin tube (for a casing) and nichrome wire, a handle (preferably plastic), an electrical cord in heat-resistant insulation, silicate glue, talc for electrical insulating mass.

Sometimes it's hard to find copper foil. You can use foil fiberglass. It is often used in the manufacture of printed circuits and circuit boards. If there are no such houses, you can contact the store and purchase the necessary material for 200 rubles. To get one sheet of copper foil, you need to heat the fiberglass with an ordinary iron and, dividing it into thin plates, pull the corner, wind it around a round stick.

The main element is a 220/12 volt transformer, through which the soldering iron will receive energy from the mains. TVK-11OL is often used. It can be found in old tube TVs.

Required following tools:

• tweezers;
• pliers;
• wire cutters;
• plates or boards for coating with adhesive mass;
• stove (electric or gas);
• rag.

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Soldering iron assembly steps

The copper wire you purchased will serve as the tip of the micro soldering iron. It will take only 50 mm. It must be sharpened in the form of a dihedral angle on one side and be sure to tin the edges. The finished sting will be inside the heating element.

The second stage in the manufacture of a microsoldering iron will be the preparation of a special electrical insulating mass. To do this, mix talc and liquid glass (silicate glue). Using a board or tweezers, apply insulation to the cylindrical surface, periodically sprinkling with talcum powder so that the mass does not stick to your hands.

Roll the copper foil into a tube about 35 mm long. This will be the base of the heating element. On one side, a soldering iron tip will be visible from under the tube. This tube must be covered with an insulating mass, as in the first case. The raw mass that you applied must be dried over the stove until completely solidified. Now you can wind the nichrome wire on the finished base by making a spiral. Its length should not exceed 350 mm. The turns must be laid carefully and very close to each other, while the upper and lower ends of the wire (from 30 to 60 mm) are left as conclusions. This structure is once again covered with a mixture of electrical insulation and dried over the stove.

Now the bar end of the wire must be bent back, pressed firmly against the surface of the tube and repeated applying the mass a third time. Only after that the heating element of the soldering iron can be considered completely ready for use.

The wire that protrudes from under the heating element must be covered with an electrical insulating mass. At the same time, you need to be patient and, each time applying a lot, do not forget to check the quality of the actions performed.

When the base is completely covered with insulation, you can start assembling the microsoldering iron. We connect the ends of the nichrome heater with a handle. To do this, we stretch an electric cord in heat-resistant insulation through the internal plastic cavity. Bare spots should be isolated with mass and dried. After that, we put a protective tin casing on the heater and connect it to the handle. The micro soldering iron is ready for use.

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Homemade resistor soldering iron

Radio amateurs often use the most unusual tools at hand to make various tools. Simplicity, reliability, ease of use - these are the technical characteristics of a do-it-yourself microsoldering iron.

As in the previous version, for the manufacture of a soldering iron, you will need copper and steel wires and double-sided textolite.

The new elements will be a ballpoint pen (for the manufacture of the case) and an MLT-0.5 resistor, which has a resistance of 5-10 ohms.

We begin work with the manufacture of the heating element. Use a scalpel or sandpaper to remove paint from the resistor. To do this, connect it to a regulated power source. After thorough cleaning of paint, remove one of the legs of the resistor, and use the other as a fastener and current lead. In the part of the resistor where the leg was removed, you need to drill a hole with a diameter of 1 mm to install the soldering iron tip. After that, countersink the hole with a larger diameter drill so that the soldering iron tip does not come into contact with the cup. With the help of a needle file, you need to make another cut in a round shape to fasten the current lead to a depth of 2/3 of the thickness.

The current lead can be made from a well-tinned spring, the rings of which should be tightly put on the cup.

The next stage of work is the manufacture of PCB boards. It has a wide part for soldering the current lead and dissipating heat, a middle part for the handle body, and a narrow part for attaching wires and cambric.

After these operations, you can start assembling. The current lead from the spring must be put on the front cup. The current leads are soldered to the PCB board. Install the tip of a microsoldering iron made of copper wire, after putting it in a piece of ceramic or mica, so that there is no current access. Now it remains to solder the wires to the board (preferably MGTF). As a battery, an adjustable BP1A, 0-15V is used. The micro soldering iron is ready for use.

The soldering technology with a homemade micro soldering iron is no different from the one you purchased in the store. With it, you can even perform miniature soldering. It is very convenient and does not require much skill to assemble.

Soldering iron 12 Volt- This is a low-voltage soldering iron, the heating element of which is designed for an operating voltage of 12 volts. A 12 Volt soldering iron is used to connect wires and parts of various kinds to each other by soldering.

The undoubted advantage of a 12 Volt low-voltage soldering iron, compared to a 220 V household soldering iron, is a low operating voltage and, therefore, a known safety when performing work.
A 12 Volt soldering iron is widely used, for example, in radio engineering, when soldering radio elements to printed circuit boards. Its use here prevents damage to current-sensitive radio components and radio components. Also, a 12 Volt soldering iron is convenient to use in a car, for example, when soldering wires, since in a normal state, the car battery is charged somewhere at 12.6 Volts. In order to use a 12 volt soldering iron directly in a car, you need an adapter, or adapter, which is usually inserted into the cigarette lighter. Just for these purposes, special automobile soldering irons are used.

Features of soldering irons 30 W Rexant

Today, the main elements of the soldering iron are being upgraded in order to improve their performance. Increasingly, ceramic rods are being used instead of copper. This allows you to speed up the process of heating the tip of the device. There are other types of soldering tools: an induction soldering iron and a soldering iron with a pulsed voltage supply, which differ in the way they transfer heat.

Soldering iron 12 Volt buy today it is not difficult, the widest choice of these tools on the shelves of stores and online stores. Everyone can choose for themselves an instrument to their liking. For example, a 12 volt Rexant soldering iron or a soldering station has a main unit in its kit that allows you to adjust the heating temperature of the tip, and the electric soldering iron itself is rated for 8 watts.

And in conclusion, it must be recalled that in the process of soldering parts, soldering smoke is released. This smoke contains vapors of lead and rosin, which have an adverse effect on the human body. Prolonged inhalation of such smoke can lead to allergic and asthmatic reactions, or the so-called "soldering" disease. It is necessary to strictly observe sanitary norms and rules and ventilate rooms where harmful solder and flux fumes accumulate as often as possible. It is also not recommended to continuously solder for a long time.

Sometimes there are situations when the owner simply cannot do without a simple soldering iron. For example, you need a multi-core cable for an outlet, or from a burned-out appliance. At such moments, one has to either borrow an instrument, or postpone the matter for an indefinite period. After all, not everyone wants to buy an expensive soldering iron or soldering station if he is not a repairman. However, there is a simple way out of this situation - to independently assemble a small soldering iron, it is just right for small work. The manufacturing process will not take much time and effort, but you can save some money and gain invaluable experience. Next, we will tell you how to make a soldering iron with your own hands at home. You will be offered several designs, and you can choose the one that suits you the most.

Idea #1 - Use a Resistor

The first and simplest technology for making an electric soldering iron with your own hands is using a powerful resistor. The device will be designed to operate at a voltage of 6 to 24 volts, which will allow it to be powered by various current sources, and even make a portable version powered by a car battery. In order to make your own tool, you will need the following materials:

To make a soldering iron from a resistor at home, you must follow these steps:

1. At the end of a thick copper rod, you need to drill a hole and drive the thread under the screw with a tap. It is also necessary to cut a groove for the retainer, which in our case is the spring ring. This can be done with a triangular needle file or a hacksaw.
   
   
2. From the second end, drill a hole with a diameter like a thin rod, which will act as a mini soldering iron tip.
3. All elements of the rod must be assembled into one whole, as shown in the photo.
   
4. The resistor is prepared for mounting the soldering iron tip, which must be inserted and fixed at the back with a screw with a washer.
   
5. From a textolite or plywood plate, you need to make a comfortable handle with a seat for a resistor and a wire with your own hands. To do this, use a jigsaw to cut out two identical halves of the handle and make holes and recesses for screws and nuts.
   
   
6. Connect the power cord to the heater terminals. It must be screwed onto the screws so that the contact is reliable.
   
7. The finished homemade soldering iron is twisted and checked.
   

We draw your attention to the fact that with such a portable gun you can easily solder microcircuits and even with your own hands. It can work not only from the power supply, but also from the battery. On the forums, we met a lot of reviews, where this homemade version was connected from a 12 volt cigarette lighter, it is also very convenient!

Please note that when first turned on, all soldering irons may smoke and stink for a while. This is normal for any model, as some elements of the paintwork will burn out. This will stop later.

Video instructions for making a simple electrical appliance

Idea number 2 - The second life of a ballpoint pen

There is another unusual, but at the same time simple idea of ​​how to make a soldering iron with your own hands from improvised materials for soldering small parts or smd components. In this case, again, it will come in handy for us, but now it’s not PEV (as in the previous version), but MLT, with a power of 0.5 to 2 watts.

So, first you need to prepare the following materials:

• Ballpoint pen of the simplest design.
• Resistor with characteristics: resistance 10 Ohm, power 0.5 W.
• Double-sided textolite.
• Copper wire with a diameter of 1 mm, it can be wound from an old choke or you can buy a single-core copper wire in insulation at an electrician's store and carefully remove it with a clerical knife
• Steel or copper wire with a diameter of not more than 0.8 mm.
• Wires for connecting to the network.

Making a soldering iron from a pen at home is quite simple, you just need to follow these steps:

1. Remove a layer of paint from the surface of the resistor. This operation can be carried out with the help of a skin, a needle file or a file, in extreme cases, a knife. The main thing is not to overdo it, so as not to damage the resistor. If the paint is difficult to remove, connect the product to a regulated power supply and heat it up a little.
2. 2 wires come out of the barrel, cut one of them and drill a hole for a copper wire in this place (diameter 1 mm). To prevent the wire from touching the cup (this must be avoided), countersink with a thicker drill, as shown in the photo below. In addition, you need to make a small cut for the wire right on the resistor cup. A triangular file will help you with this again.
   
3. Bend the steel wire into the shape of a ring-shaped handle, with a diameter similar to that of a drank on a cup. If you have copper wire, then you need to clamp the cup in it and twist it with pliers so that the contact is reliable, but do not overdo it, otherwise you will wrinkle the case. Remember that the wire must be without varnish insulation.
   
4. Carefully cut out the board from the double-sided PCB with your own hands, exactly the same as shown in the example in the photo. It is not necessary to buy a new sheet of textolite. You can use a jigsaw to cut a suitable piece from any unnecessary double-sided board. Or do without it altogether: twist the wire with wires, and attach them to the handle with superglue. The main thing to pay attention to is that the distance between the heating element and the handle is more than 5 cm, otherwise the plastic may melt.
   
   
5. Next, you need to assemble a homemade soldering iron from the handle, which should not cause difficulties.
   
6. It remains to install a thin sting in the seat. To prevent the copper wire from burning through the resistor, you need to make a protective layer of a piece of mica or ceramic between the back wall and the sting.
   
7. The last thing to do is to connect the homemade product to a 1 A power supply and a voltage of no more than 15 Volts using wires.
   

That's the whole technology of creating a homemade mini soldering iron at home. As you can see, there is nothing complicated in making this tool, and you can easily cope with it, and all the materials can be found at home by dismantling old equipment or looking for them in the bins.

How to make a more complex model of a mini soldering iron at home?

Video review of a device with nichrome wire, powered by 12 volts

Idea #3 – Powerful Impulse Pattern

This option is suitable for those who are already more or less familiar with radio engineering and can read the corresponding diagrams. A master class on making a homemade pulsed soldering iron will be provided following the example of this scheme:

The advantage of this tool is that the tip heats up within 5 seconds after turning on the power, while the heated rod can easily melt the tin. At the same time, it can be made from a switching power supply from a fluorescent lamp, slightly improving the board at home.

As in the previous examples, we will first consider the materials from which you can make a soldering iron with your own hands at home. Before assembly, you must prepare the following improvised means:

All you need is to connect the tip to the secondary winding, which, in fact, is already part of it. After that, one of the ballast leads must be connected to the primary winding of the transformer and all the elements of the circuit must be fixed in a reliable case that will protect you from accidental electric shock, since the circuit contains a life-threatening voltage of 220 volts!

The principle of operation of this design is that the ballast from the lamp creates an alternating voltage that is applied to the primary winding of the transformer and is reduced to low values, while the current increases many times over. One turn, which is, in fact, the tip of the soldering iron, acts as a resistor, on which heat is dissipated. When the button is pressed, current is supplied to the circuit, and rapid heating occurs, after the button is released, the tip cools quickly, which is very convenient, since you do not have to wait long for the tool to heat up and cool down.

Idea #4 - Simple Wire Option

There is another option for making a miniature soldering iron - using nichrome wire. For this you will need:

Manufacturing process:

1. Drill a hole in the bar for the copper wire 3 times larger than its diameter.
2. Put a piece of copper wire in it so that it protrudes about 5 cm and fix it there with thick plaster putty, let it dry.
3. Put on a copper bar, which is a sting, insulation and wind the required amount of nichrome wire, leaving a distance between the turns. Also put insulation on the ends and bring them closer to the handle. Then connect to twists with wires. Tape them to the handle with electrical tape.

That's all, you have another simple and reliable DIY soldering iron design.

We still recommend using either the first or the second option, which is more understandable and easier to manufacture. As for the transformer version, although it is more powerful, it is still not so convenient to use. We hope that these photo instructions were useful for you and finally we recommend that you definitely watch all the video examples in which the assembly process is considered in more detail!

Also read:

The purpose of the soldering iron is known even to people far from electricians. It is not at all necessary to talk about those who work in this area - for them it is simply an indispensable assistant. And the market, taking this into account, provides a huge number of devices that differ in many parameters. But not in all cases it is advisable to spend money, because you can make a full-fledged soldering iron with your own hands, without having any specific knowledge.

Homemade soldering iron

It makes sense to buy a soldering iron if you have to work with them constantly, or at least quite often. But if this is a tool that gathers dust on the shelf most of the time, then there is not much point in spending money. Moreover, it is quite possible to independently make a full-fledged apparatus of the necessary power, taking into account the likely needs.

Of course, in order to know how to make a soldering iron with your own hands, you need to understand its structure and principle of operation. After all, despite the external simplicity, there are some nuances that are preferable to know before starting work.

Structure and principle of operation

Soldering irons have an extremely simple device: a copper rod that interacts with a heating element is placed in a kind of tube that acts as a housing. A heat-resistant power cable is connected to the heater. And the whole structure is completed by a handle made of a material with low thermal conductivity.

Under the action of an electric current, a heating element (for example, a nichrome spiral) transfers thermal energy to a copper rod called a sting. The tip, having a high thermal conductivity, heats up, which allows soldering.

Knowing how the soldering iron works, it is quite possible to make it yourself. Moreover, to implement this idea in different ways, taking into account the needs in a particular situation.

Soldering iron for 220 volts on a resistor

The option with a voltage of 220 V, first of all, is good because it does not require a search for a power supply. At the same time, depending on the specific needs, its power can be made different, which allows you to create an electric soldering iron with your own hands both for soldering small equipment, and a hammer soldering iron for sealing tanks, pans and other metal utensils.

First you need to prepare parts that will be required in the process of making a soldering iron:

Depending on what work is expected to be done in the future with a soldering iron, you need to choose its power. And already on the basis of these data it is necessary to carry out calculations.

Here it is worth remembering the school physics course, and in particular the power formula and Ohm's law. To simplify the calculation, it is supposed to take a 100 ohm resistor as an example. Considering that the current will be 2.2 A, when using such a resistor, the soldering iron will consume 484 watts, which, of course, is too much. Therefore, the voltage needs to be reduced. A 300 ohm damping resistor and a 10 uF capacitor to 300 V will help in this. Thus, it will turn out to four times reduce the current, that is, to about 0.5 amperes, which will allow you to get a voltage across the resistor of 55 V.

When the necessary calculations are completed, you can go directly to solving the question of how to make a soldering iron at home, that is, to its mechanical assembly.

The main thing here is to correctly position the sting in the resistor. In order to securely fix it and reduce the gap between the copper rod and the resistor, fill it with silicate glue. This will also help protect the part from the possibility of cracking during operation.

To reinforce the insulation at the junction of wires and the heating element it is better to additionally wind asbestos thread. It would be useful to use an additional ceramic sleeve for these purposes. All this will make a homemade soldering iron safer and more reliable.

Now it remains to place the resulting structure in a suitable iron tube, on which a handle made of wood or textolite is mounted. A wire is passed into the hole of the handle as in a classic soldering iron to connect to the power supply.

Low power mini soldering iron

Quite often, the use of powerful models is inconvenient and impractical. This is especially true for work carried out during the repair of small household appliances, soldering smd and other elements sensitive to high temperatures. In such cases, a low-voltage, small, light and convenient soldering iron with a thin tip will come in handy. And here it would be useful to know how to make a mini soldering iron with your own hands, because the estimated costs in this case will be much less than in the case of buying a factory model.

As usual, it all starts with the preparation of parts and parts that will be required in the process.

• Copper wire with a diameter of about 1 mm.
• An unnecessary ballpoint pen that acts as a case.
• A small piece of textolite measuring 30 by 10 millimeters.
• A little steel wire with a diameter of 0.8 millimeters.
• Since the soldering iron is made of a resistor, a 5-10 ohm resistor is used.

The first step is to prepare the resistor itself. To do this, you need to clean it from paint. You can do this in different ways: just scrape it off with a knife, connect the power and let it warm up, then remove the paint or wipe it off with a solvent. After that, one of the legs is removed, and in this place a hole is carefully drilled with a 1 mm drill, just enough for the prepared copper wire to enter. In this case, special attention should be paid to ensure that it does not touch the resistor housing. Therefore, it is worth processing the hole with a slightly larger drill - countersinking.

On the processed side of the resistor, on the cup itself, a small cut is made, where the current lead loop should subsequently lie. It is also made of steel wire, bent in such a way that a loop is obtained, which will lie in the sawn groove-propyl.

Now a piece of textolite is taken, which is cut out in such a way that one end fits well into the body of a ballpoint pen. Here, contacts are soldered on both sides, to which the supply wires will subsequently be connected. The other side of the textolite plate is made a little wider so as not to enter the pen body. Contacts are also soldered here, to which current-carrying parts from the resistor will be connected. Externally, the resulting blank resembles a kind of letter "T" approximately as in the figure:

Now all the details need to be collected. A wire with a loop is placed in the corresponding groove on the transistor, its ends are soldered to the contacts on the textolite plate.

A copper sting is inserted into the hole of the transistor. In this case, it would be useful to make protection from mica or a similar material so that during the heating of the sting, the resistor itself would not be damaged.

Wires are passed into the body from a ballpoint pen, which are soldered to the contacts on the thin side of the textolite plate - this will be the power. After that, the plate itself is also placed in the handle body.

When the base of the soldering iron is assembled from a resistor with your own hands, you should think about power. For this, a power supply with a voltage of up to 15 volts is suitable. Although it is best to use 9–12 V, this is the optimal voltage for the operation of such a device.

As you can see, with a minimum amount of materials that can easily be found in almost every home, you can make an excellent and safe homemade 12 volt soldering iron without having a high knowledge of electrical and electronics.

Autonomous battery powered device

Those who often have to work "in the field" know that the presence of an outlet where you can connect a stationary soldering iron is far from always the case. Therefore, it will be useful to have an autonomous tax in reserve. Of course, it will not work to perform soldering that requires a powerful model, but such a micro-soldering iron is still able to perform most of the work. Therefore, it is quite advisable to make a battery soldering iron with your own hands in order to simplify the work in some cases.

Almost all the parts that make up the cordless soldering iron model can be found in almost every home. Therefore, before starting work, you need to prepare:

When everything is ready, you can proceed directly to the assembly of the soldering iron. And first you need to make a heating element: a nichrome thread must be wound on a prepared copper wire with a diameter of 2 mm in the form of a spiral. In this case, the length will have to be determined empirically. So, the heating of the spiral should reach a temperature of 300 to 450 degrees Celsius.

Now you need to put a piece of a heat-resistant tube on the same wire and wind a measured nichrome thread on it. Smaller tubes are put on its ends, after which a tube of the largest diameter is put on the entire resulting structure. Now the copper wire inside can be carefully removed.

The resulting heating element remains to be placed in a piece of antenna cut off to a suitable size. A stinger is also inserted here and fixed with a self-tapping screw.

In general, the whole base is already ready. It remains only to solder the wires for power to the spiral and place everything in the case.

In order to prevent fire, between the tube with the heating element and the housing it is necessary to insert a piece of some non-combustible material.

The result is a cheap, reliable and convenient tool for soldering in the field.